Now You Know

September 18, 2001

Human babies babble in remarkably similar ways, regardless of their parents' language. A study of 15 language environments found that infants from Africa to Norway use many of the same consonants in their prattle. All babies in the study, for example, were heard to pronounce the consonants "m" and "b" (probably related to suckling). By 3 months, babies are starting to copy the distinctive "melody" of their parents' language.